Month: July 2018

Wet again through the night and still a bit miserable in the morning, however brightening up mid morning and a sunny though breezy afternoon. Today were bound for Manorbier and found a cheeky little parking spot right in the centre of this pretty little village, with it’s narrow windy roads and walled borders, I certainly wouldn’t want to be towing through here! The first thing we saw was it’s fine castle, looking out to sea.

From the centre of the village we followed a footpath out of the village across open farmland to join the coastal path just this side of the Military Camp and almost directly above Presipe Beach a very pretty sandy cove – not very big and you would need to keep an eye on the tides, as there was only one way up and down (steep steps).

From here we continued along the coastal path back towards Manorbier- like yesterday this is a wonderful stretch of coastline with fabulous sea views all the way along the path – the clouds creating shadows on the sea.

After a few more ups and downs we climbed the steepish path up to the top of East Moor Cliff and suddenly to our right (not straight ahead as I was expecting) the delightful sandy and deserted Swanlake Bay.

We didn’t go down but instead found our selves a sheltered spot up on the top and stayed a while, enjoying the sun and the fabulous views.

Enough for today, so we trekked back the way we came to Manorbier for Poppydog to have a cool down and drink in the river.

And we wandered up past the castle and 12th C Church to the car.

Two thoughts of the day:

Many of these beaches have parking spaces / lay-by close to, so would be great to visit out of peak times.

A wet night and morning but fortunately everything dried up by lunchtime, with the sun occasionally gracing us with its presence throughout the afternoon and evening. Today we found the little NT car park on the way to Lydstep Head – the lead road was a serious test of the suspension and for awhile I thought perhaps I’d gone wrong and only persevered because there was no way of turning round! Anyhow we made it and took a very nice walk across the headland to the point to take in the fabulous view of Caldey Island.

The view from Lydstep Point is just beautiful with the sun and clouds creating an amazing pattern across the sea.

We continued around the headland to Lydstep Haven, which is a beautiful sheltered deep sandy bay, as you can see mostly dominated by the surrounding holiday parks but quite a find in off peak times and popular for some water sports. We watched the jet skis hurtling around the bay for awhile, leaving trails of white surf in their wake,

We then retraced our steps across the headland to venture in the opposite direction (west) to discover Shrinkle Haven in the distance.

Getting there however!!! This included a very steep decline and of course incline, though there was another little sandy cove at the bottom – Skomer

On the way up we had to stop to enjoy the bank of Montbretia!

Back up at the top again we continued along the path, looking back you could see that Skomer Bay was intact two little coves that at lower tides would make a very nice little escape! A bit further along a closer look at Shrinkle Haven accessed by a lot of very steep steps (we found two sets down, one to each cove, both very steep!).

Walking back we followed a slightly different inland route, past the Shrinkle Haven YHA but I’m afraid there was no avoiding the steep valley – ah well good for us both I’m sure!

Two thoughts of the day:

Well we haven’t had a beach to ourselves for awhile but we’ve found plenty that are still very quiet.

Wide awake at 5am this morning thinking that Poppydog used to get me up at this time or earlier every morning when she was younger!! Mind you soon went back to sleep!

As predicted a wettish night and morning – though we didn’t get the strong winds (fortunately) and the showers during the day were quite light so didn’t put us off! Today we decided to brave the crowds and head for Tenby. After finding parking on the outskirts of town we followed a footpath down, through a holiday park to join the coastal path, as it ran alongside a railway track into Tenby. The path was set back behind the dunes that run along the back of South Beach and the very dry looking Golf Course, so we didn’t get any look at the beach until we were in Tenby and then – well look!

Miles and miles of sand and I’m sure because of access, the middle section is probably very under visited! And then just tucked onto the end of South Beach is Castle Beach, another sandy beauty.

Up above the Castle Beach the footpath rambles through part of the old town, little windy streets with pretty painted terraces all festooned with flowers.

Busy with like minded tourists, all the street cafes and pubs overflowing with happy visitors (we are very good at handling rubbish days when on holiday – don’t you think?) as we wind our way up through the ivy covered ruins of the old Castle to the lookout Tower.

Also up here keeping a wise eye on the town is the 150 year old marble statue of Queen Victoria’s husband Prince Albert.

From this high point you get a glimpse of First Point and Second Point and their sandy little coves, only accessible from North Beach at low tide and just to the far right the entrance to Waterwynch Beach that we visited yesterday.

The sandy North Beach is pretty expansive too, with its busy little harbour full of boats (mindyou only useful at high tide!) and more painted terraces above.

A little glimpse of the beach beyond the castle ruins.

Another wander through the town just as the sea mist swirled in to keep us company on our way back.

Lovely day!

Two thoughts of the day:

Would be nice to visit Tenby on a sunny midweek day in June or September don’t you think?

Well, rather a wet and wild night, with some heavy thundery showers throughout the morning, gradually lessening as the day progressed and so we only got showered on twice during our afternoon walk, neither of which lasting too long! We parked up in a little place called New Bridges and walked down the access lane to the Waterwynch Estate, through quite dense woodland towards the bottom and then suddenly out into the open with this

A pretty little pebbly cove, with plenty of sand at lower tides. I shouldn’t imagine it gets visited much apart from by the families staying on the Estate, so would be a real find in June or September. If you were lucky enough to be staying on this rather exclusive estate and the weather is fine, what more would you need?

We stayed awhile, before rejoining the coastal path for a steep hike up onto the cliff tops, headed in the direction of Saundersfoot (east) intending to see Brownslade Bay, the next cove along, but alas this bit of shoreline is so covered with trees that we could not even catch a glimpse of the cove and it must only be accessible, if at all, at low tide from Waterwynch. Poppydog had a good run around chasing a family of house martins dive bombing the freshly mown fields up on the top.

As the weather seemed to be clearing, we decided to carry on along the coastal path and in places enjoying stunning views of Tenby and beyond – how lovely it looks all pretty pastel painted cottages!

The sea also took on new life as the sun peered out from behind the clouds, with the brisk wind creating fast moving shadows across the sea.

After we had climbed all the way down and back up the other side of Lodge Valley (lots and lots of steps!), through a break in the trees we could see Monkstone Beach just about basking in the sun.

From here we turned inland across Trevayne and eventually along the lanes back to the car.

Two thoughts of the day:

Sat Nav is contributing to the distribution of traffic by sending us all in every direction, often down roads we would not dream of taking! Is this a good thing?

The short sharp heavy showers we had during the night are quite deafening in a caravan – no chance of sleeping through!!!

Not such a nice day today, cloudy but still warm and even though some pretty heavy showers forecast, I’m pleased to say they haven’t materialised- so far! We parked up in Amroth as the car park there is free and took the footpath up a lot of steps to Tinkershill, along which the coastal path and a section of Route 4 runs (not the steps bit!). A lot of the time the view was obscured by the hedgerow but odd glimpses kept us going.

Soon enough we began our descent into Wisemans Bridge with a lovely stream at the bottom for Poppydog to take five.

Here too there was free parking, though on a better day, I imagine you would struggle. The beach is mostly sandy, with stony bits and lots of rocky outcrops and rock pools, a great family beach. I also think that at low tide you could probably walk from Amroth to save going up and over.

There is a nice raised walkway along the front and here’s a thing, a tunnel to walk through to get to Coppet Hall Beach and Saundersfoot. We like!

Further along another wee tunnel brings you out in Saundersfoot.

This was our turning point as we had no real wish to wander around a busy Saundersfoot so we ambled back to Wisemans Bridge for a play on the beach before the climb back to the car.